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Music and How You Found It
I’m fairly new here and not sure what the rules are about content. I get that center-right, as this site is advertised, implies politics, but my mind ran contrary to the fate of the Republic. I’m thinking right now about music and how I came upon the stuff I like.
For too long all I heard on the radio was gaga, or googoo. My formative musical years were dull, like most people in high school during the eighties or any other time when a palate was presented to you by someone else. DJs had an iron grip on what we heard. There were good songs, but formulaically so. I had my predictable rebellion where I listened to Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, and The Grateful Dead and considered myself cultured in the small sphere in which I inhabited. But I was buffered.
Then I went to camp.
My 12-year-old self, along with a cadre of compatriots, were roused daily by a pre-recorded reveille blasted through a WWI surplus speaker system. The entirety of Monteagle, TN, could hear it and no doubt they hated us for it. But we were kids. Nothing woke us up. So our friendly councilors, armed with a boom box, made sure we got up.
They would play at maximum volume songs I had never heard before. The Violent Femmes’ “Blister In The Sun,” UB40’s version of Neil Diamond’s “Red Red Wine.” These were get-the-hell-out-of-that-bunk songs played at crummy side table shaking volume. You do not sleep through a Gordon Gano rant.
What struck me was that I had never heard either song before. I thought I was pretty savvy for a pubescent know-nothing, but here was a world of cool sounds that I didn’t even know that I didn’t know about.
I think one of the counselors was named Kevin. Probably Kevin. Anyway, I asked likely Kevin how he found these bands. They weren’t on the radio. Billboard said nothing about them. How did you get hold of this? He told me that when I got back home I needed to find an independent record store and simply ask the clerk what I needed to listen to.
In the mid-eighties, Odyssey Records on 6th Ave. South in Birmingham, AL had the honor of employing a guy who got suspended from Shades Valley High School in December of ’67. At the time, Shades Valley was a catch-all for students around the metroplex. If you were in an unincorporated area, you went to Shades Valley. It got a reputation because if you got kicked out of anywhere in the area, you went to Shades Valley. It didn’t make a lot of CVs. That said, the place has made a U-turn. They have a program within the school that is somehow a separate school that shares the same campus and WaPo ranked them 9th among America’s most challenging high schools.
That guy got suspended because he put the flag at half-mast when he heard that Otis Redding died. You can imagine that when I came in and asked what I should be listening to, per my camp counselors instructions, I left with an Otis Redding’s Greatest Hits album. My listening life has never been the same.
I’m not claiming any esoteric library. Most of what I listen to is pretty accessible by today’s standards, but stuff you would have only known about in the ’80s because some weird kid had a t-shirt.
Otis isn’t the punk or alternative that I listen to more often than not, but I’m now a sucker for Motown and Atlantic Rhythm and Blues. Always will be. That suspendee turned me on to so many other bands — Pixies, R.E.M, Sex Pistols, The Pogues, Linda Ronstadt and Warren Zevon by extension, and so many more. My kids can sing along to most Supremes songs. I got approving looks in the hardware store checkout line when my son sang along to the piped-in “Ziggy Stardust.” On a whitewater trip, my seven-year-old made friends with the river guide because of The Joshua Tree.
I’m all over the place musically, but I can track my tastes back to a 17-or-so-year-old camp counselor and a really nice guy with a mar on his permanent record.
Life is odd.
Published in General
Everything got horrible before the 80’s, my marker is 1973 with the Dark Side of the Moon. We stopped having fun and started to think our Summertime Blues complaint ( note how Eddie is laughing) drifted into self absorbed self pity.
You had me at Otis Redding.
Actually, you have a gift for writing and even if his name had not come up, you had me.
Welcome to ricochet, and please remember that “right of the center” these days is basically where 12 years ago, the center of the world used to be. (Politically speaking.)
Trump’s platform is not all that different from that of Bill Clinton, 1996. Clinton did not want us involved in lengthy wars in the Middle East. Ditto Trump. One reason why the Left immediately circa late Jan 2017 went after Michael Flynn was due to him being totally aware of how much the Dems want more wars there, or to extend the ones we have. Flynn wanted none of that. (Although the Dems tout the message of “peace and love.”)
But as usual, I digress.
I enjoyed the story of how the student was suspended for putting the flag at half mast at the time of Redding’s death. Reminds me of how my sister’s first boyfriend was suspended from 8th grade for celebrating Good Friday by carrying a cross on his back and circling our Catholic Church.
For most humans, music is a unifying force. In the 1980’s, if a person was then old enough to travel the world, they could count on getting a free drink. All that took was saying the magic words to some stranger in a tavern far from home. It did not matter if you knew Swahili, Russian, French, Swedish or Portugese. If you said “The Beatles” in your native English language, the person next to you would buy you a drink. (If you said “Chicago,” the person would smile and make their hand into a gun, and say “Bang! Bang!”)
Part of me still thinks that great English philosopher Philip Michael Jagger got it right. To paraphrase him: It’s OK to like it, but it’s still only rock’n’roll.
The holy trinity of Umbra Fractus’s musical tastes.
“New Moon on Monday” wasn’t my first favorite song, but it was the first time I sat up and said, “I have to have that.” The album from which it was taken, Seven and the Ragged Tiger, was the first “adult” album I ever owned in my own right. (By “adult” I mean excluding childrens’ sing-a-long type stuff.)
I therefore spent most of the eighties listening to pop music. By the early nineties pop music was turning toward a sort of quasi-neo-disco in which every song had devolved into essentially nothing but a beat and vocals. I briefly turned to country (this was the era of Garth Brooks and Clint Black) still thinking that metal was just noise masquerading as music. “Enter Sandman” (assisted by my father suddenly remembering that he used to like “Paranoid” in college) changed that. I got the black album, and, while it would be false to say that I never looked back – I still like new wave – my preferences changed almost overnight.
Finally, an online role play in which one of the other players chose “Art of Life” as his character’s theme song introduced me to the fact that there was some great stuff on the other side of the Pacific. It helped that X Japan fit into what was at the time my preferred genre, melodic speed metal with a hint of prog.
My tastes are, of course, more varied than this might imply (not fond of all the Doors hate in this thread, I have to say,) but those are the big three.
I don’t know if I fell on the wrong side of Squeeze or not. I only listened to one album so I never saw a change. I found 45s Singles and Under in the late 80s and kinda had to listen to them because of a cute girl who didn’t seem to know that there were other bands or albums. I listened to the album recently and still liked it, though she was really cute, so my opinion may need tempering.
Not to harp on Zappa, but you just paraphrased Joe’s Garage:
“Well the years was rollin’ by, yeah
Heavy Metal ‘n’ Glitter Rock
Had caught the public eye, yeah
Snotty boys with lipstick on
Was really flyin’ high, yeah
‘N’ then they got that Disco thing
‘N’ New Wave came along
‘N’ all of a sudden I thought the time
Had come for that old song
We used to play in “Joe’s Garage”
And if I am not wrong
You will soon be dancin’ to…”
Maybe not about synth music, but still.
It’s like a curse of having had been there. I know my Dad feels the same way, I played him a couple songs from the record above, he didn’t seem especially moved. It’s strange though, I’m nearly certain the first record of his I listened to was My Aim is True, but with the conveniences of YouTube and Apple Music, I moved about quickly, and I’ve never been one to think I needed to listen to a record as it was arranged. So I guess I’m a little less likely to associate him with any particular sound.
The movement you describe seems like it was developing for a while. I’m curious, James, whereabouts did he lose you?
I’m a big Elvis fan. Saw him on first U.S. tour in December 1977 and 8 times since. Agree with you on some of his later stuff though I do like the When I Was Cruel album as well as the one he did with Bacharach and the album with the country band – from Sulphur to Sugarcane.
Had the opposite experience with Zep. When their albums were originally coming out I thought them OK, some good songs, some dreck, but nothing special and overrated. 25 years later my high school daughter became a giant fan of the band (and Hendrix as well) so I ended up listening to them again and ended up enjoying Zep much more than when I was younger, and I’m still listening. And now my daughter plays a lullaby version collection of Beatles songs for our 10-week old grandson!
Can’t speak for James but for me in his first 5 years (1977-82) he released 8 albums – 7 of original material (104 tracks) and one of country covers. 1977 was a bad time for music and My Aim is True was an electrifying change. I listened as they all came out and it was a revolutionary combination of wordplay and aggression. Then came Punch the Clock and Goodbye Cruel World in ’83 and ’84 and they just left me cold. Since then it’s been hit or miss.
Okay, I’m with you on that. I forget that, as much of his work I’ve listened to, there’s so much that I haven’t. If you guys haven’t already, I’d recommend Look Now. There are a couple tunes I’m not crazy for, but there really is a there there.
Got it recently but haven’t had a chance to listen much. Which tunes do you think best?
More for my own amusement than anything else I put together three posts on my personal blog with some of my favorite Elvis lyrics:
https://havechanged.blogspot.com/2016/02/gettin-sardonic-with-elvis-vol-1.html
https://havechanged.blogspot.com/2016/03/gettin-sardonic-with-elvis-vol-2.html
https://havechanged.blogspot.com/2016/03/getting-sardonic-with-elvis-vol-3.html
Is it just age? I’ve seen no mentions at all of Miles, Getz, Coltrane, Sarah, Ella, Carmen, Brubeck, Art Pepper. I know I’m a senior citizen now, but I thought someone other than I would have listened to them.
These two are probably my favorites.
I also really like “You Shouldn’t Look at Me That Way,” “Adieu Paris,” and “The Final Mrs. Curtain.”
I don’t think he’ll disappoint you lyrically on this one.
These recommendations got me thinking about music by 21st century acts (am already familiar with Vampire Weekend). Ones I listen to a lot are Robert Randolph & The Family Band (great live act), Arctic Monkeys, The Black Keys, Dropkick Murphys, I Nine (defunct), Flight of the Conchords (defunct), Gnarls Barkley, Grace Potter, Israel Nash, Marcus King Band, Chris Stapleton. There are a bunch of others I’ve liked one or two songs by like Dogs Die in Hot Cars (defunct), The Frontbottoms, Amplifier, Kenna, Lil Nas X, Muse, 7Horse, The National, Gomez (defunct). I think both because of my age and the way access to music is now I get less of a sense of an album by most bands.
I mentioned Ella and I listen to some Brubeck. Never got much into Miles and Coltrane. Need to listen to Getz again – it’s been awhile. Here’s a good cover of Take Five
I haven’t listened to everyone on your list, but I worked my way back – I love Duke Ellington, Gershwin, Armstrong, Cole, and Scott Joplin. When was Art Tatum?
Tatum died in 1956 so I’ve mostly listened to people who might have been influenced by him. I think you may have heard some on my list in the music PIT.
I think Disturbed, Avenged Sevenfold, and a few Japanese acts are all I have here.
I still think Squeeze’s Tempted is one of the best songs ever, and Costello is among the most clever song writers ever. He knows how to plant a hook and turn a phrase; unlike most of rock and rolldom, he could probably survive on writing alone in this or any other era.
True dis. Greatest hits/compilations are often ‘wrong’ in the same way that history is ‘wrong’. It is an artificial compression that creates a narrative at the expense of touching on life as it was lived.
Man, that sounds pretentious.
Love ’em.
I do, usually in the evenings. I like a guy that Willie Nelson is a big fan of, Django Reinhardt.
Oh my! I love Reinhardt! I heard that guy only had three whole fingers on his left hand.
He’s remarkable.
btw; Tom Waits.
I love him as an actor but I’ve never been able to get into his music. Any starting recommendations?
His first album has some beautiful songs. I still can’t believe a 23-year-old could write this song:
Couldn’t play any “advanced” chord positions, but his single-note runs are, as you say, remarkable.
That was the group that really lit a fire under me. Robert Plant is the one that sticks out to me as the weak link. In general, the late 60s/70s has lost its sparkle for me, and the 80s has gone way up!
Bravo! That was really something. I’ll have to take another look Waites’ way.
(Also – unrelated – where the heck is @dontillman?)